The Female Physician / Containing all the diseases incident to that sex, in virgins, wives, and widows; together with their causes and symptoms, their degrees of danger, and respective methods of prevention and cure: to which is added, the whole art of new improv'd midwifery; comprehending the necessary qualifications of a midwife, and particular directions for laying women, in all cases of difficult and preternatural births; together with the diet and regimen of both the mother and child.

by John Maubray

NATURE has endued the Womb with this Faculty, to the end that it may (in Pregnancy) extend and dilate itself Day by Day, in Proportion to the Growth of the Infant, Secundine, and Humours.

NOW the Womb in its lower Part being straitly tied to the Intestinum Rectum and Bladder; it is to be understood that the Distention happens mostly in its superiour Part or Bottom: Which is not only most Free and at greatest Liberty, but also Thickest and aptest for Dilatation.

THIS will appear more evident, when we consider how the Infant adheres to that Part, the Bottom, by means of the Secundine: How the Infant also as it grows, begins to separate the Humours in the Secundine, which (of consequence) encrease as the Infant does: And how again the Encrease of the Humours fill up the Chinks and Vacuums, as I may call them, which the Infant cannot possess. From hence it is that the Womb extends itself in the Form of a Pear, only a little Plainer at Both Ends.

THUS the Secundine adhering[^[155]] to the Bottom of the Womb, by its thicker Part (call’d the Placenta,) thence it is that the Womb encreases and extends itself more in its Bottom, than in any inferiour Part.

WHEREFORE the Womb being most extended in its upper Part, call’d the Bottom; and both the Bladder and Rectum below being soft loose Parts, it necessarily follows, that the Womb may freely ascend and descend upon Occasion, as we often find it in the Cavity of the Belly; which, however, does not happen to All Women alike.

BUT, in short, these extensive and ascensive Faculties of the Womb, chiefly residing in its Bottom; I would have it laid down for a certain Maxim of Truth, that These exert themselves, without any the least Extenuation to the Uterine Substance: Which Position leads me directly to consider——

CHAP. XI.
Of the Substantial Density of the WOMB.

TOUCHING the Thickness of the Pregnant Womb, Authors have differ’d extremely: Some thinking, that as the Womb grows Larger, it grows Thicker; and Others the Reverse, that as it extends, it grows Thinner.

NOW these Opinions being both diametrically opposite One to the Other, as Both (perhaps) may be contrary to Truth, I shall freely and ingenuously offer my Sentiments in a few Words; not that I vainly desire to engage myself in any Controversy: Save only, because the true Knowledge of this Point, is so Material and Consequential for all MIDWIVES, especially in Cases of difficult and preternatural Births, that I cannot well excuse myself, should I pass it by with Silence in this Place.